Why Your Restaurant Should be on Delivery Apps

To boost sales and be found where your guests are looking, ensure your restaurants are on these apps.

E-Delivery Services

Food delivery services are becoming exceedingly popular in Canada. Cameron Reed, President at Orderit, says they “are seeing an increased demand for online food delivery in Toronto, Vancouver and beyond." Mintel says 52% of consumers enjoy getting takeout or delivery from full service restaurants and that time savings must outweigh potential concerns about cost or quality. Chef Jill Houk points out, “Whenever a restaurant doesn't deliver, there's the feeling that you're leaving money on the table. And you miss out on possible new diners. But there are risks. You have to account for more labor to take new orders and cook the food. The business is less predictable that your current restaurant operations.”

But some restaurants have a difficult relationship with the idea of delivery. It simply isn’t for some, while others are designed just for this purpose. There’s a growing number of “ghost” or “digital” restaurants that only deliver. From a chef’s point of view, there are serious concerns about how the food travels. That is, will the eating experience be diminished because of what happens once the meal leaves the restaurant? Chef Jill Houk says, “Yes, these services have systems in place for keeping food at the right temperature. But when the food leaves your door, it's out of your control. And that can be scary.” From the consumer standpoint though, people are used to getting their way. They want restaurants’ offerings on their own terms and at their own convenience.

If your operation wasn’t designed for delivery, some of these can help you get the service off the ground. And if you do offer delivery, these can help you expand your audience.

Feature your restaurant on this app and Uber promises that they will get it to your customer within 30 minutes. You and your customers can even track each order from the floor right to the customer’s door. 28% of delivery app users in Canada have used Uber Eats to order food1. In the US, McDonalds partnered with Uber Eats in early 2017 to begin testing delivery at 134 Florida locations.

When your restaurant and menu are on this app, Amazon will send your customer’s order to you and then pick it up and deliver it within 1 hour from ordering. Customers can also order through Alexa, making it even easier.

Amazon Prime Now currently partners primarily with local independents in the American cities where the service has launched, such as the Harbor Town Pub in San Diego, California. In the UK, Amazon is partnering with chains such as Strada, Gastronomica and Planet Hollywood, and offers free delivery for Prime members.

Google Restaurants

The service allows users to order food directly through Google Maps/Business and utilizes food delivery services in the area.

Make PostMates a preferred delivery service for your operation and they will courier to your customers. Most Focus Brands concepts have partnered with Postmates to offer delivery, including Auntie Anne's, Cinnabon, Carvel, and Moe’s Southwest Grill.

Feature your restaurant on this app and it allows customers to search by flavour, price or delivery speed, to ensure they find the food that suits their need and of course, delivered to their door. DoorDash offers a robust QSR chain delivery offering in Canada, including McDonalds, A&W, Wendy’s, and Burger King.

This service focuses on bringing inspired and healthy meal options to customers. Feast has their own team of chefs to create proprietary health-centric menu offerings, delivered by bicycle. Consumers love the service, with a 4.9/5 star rating on Google.

They work with local restaurants to provide them a trusted delivery service. They’re partnered with several independent restaurants, such as Rawlicious (a vegan concept in Toronto) and Free Times Café. They even work with some smaller, higher end chains, such as BareBurger and Wild Wing.

This delivery app also allows business to order food at work for multiple people. Foodee partners with several independent, authentic ethnic and health-centric concepts in the Toronto region, including Lan, The Healthy Butcher, and Terteria San Cosme.

Fight Food Waste

Fighting food waste is an ongoing project. These apps provide tools to help you combat waste.